“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” ~ Revelation 3:20

STM Network > Partners > “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” ~ Revelation 3:20

Emily's Stories from Ghana

Well I have been in Ghana for just over 2 weeks now. I have been very busy settling in learning about life in Ghana and trying to figure out how to get different places. When I first arrived I was a bit overwhelmed by everything and because of the jet-lag I was feeling pretty sensitive. Those feelings have passed and things are going well.
I have been to a few places around Accra and I feel pretty confident about get around the places in and around my neighbourhood. I did have quite the experience with on taxi driver though! I was trying to get home from a plaza and was talking to a taxi driver to negotiate the price. We agree on a price and he told me he knew where we were going. Off we went, we were driving and then he told me that he was not sure how to get me back home. I got a bit scared but then tried Google maps on my phone. Success! We had just over shot my street by a little bit and I was able to direct him the rest of the way.
There are still not any cases of Ebola in Ghana and I pray it stays that way! There is however an outbreak of Cholera right now. The good news is that I have had the vaccine for Cholera the bad news is that it is another reason why I can’t travel to Asamankese. There are lots of advertisements, posters and information available about the prevention and symptoms of both Ebola and Cholera. This is helping educate people of the importance of hand washing and avoiding eating food that might be contaminated and stuff like that. The difficult thing is change of lifelong habits does not happen overnight. The advertisements and information is good but it is difficult to share with people in small villages or even people in Accra that don’t know how to read or that don’t have a T.V. I am taking as many precautions as possible i.e. washing my hands and using sanitizer, avoiding shaking hands and not buying things from street venders that are selling food.
As for my missions work, most of it is on sort of a hold right now until such time that I can actually travel to Asamankese. However, I had a visit over the weekend from one of the staff from the school. It was so nice to see her! Her and I were able to talk about what’s happening at the school and if there was anything that I could do to support them from afar. I sent a bunch of stuff with her that I had brought with me and some stuff that I prepared for them that I thought they might find useful. She was so grateful and I now have a better idea of some stuff I can do to support them. I am hoping to at least make a day trip down to Asamankese in the next few weeks to see the children and teachers. I know I will have to be really careful when I decide to go for various reasons but also because the only way to get there is by trotro (a bus or large van) that they pack full of people and I would be stuck in there for 2 hours.
I guess time will tell how this journey will play out but, God is good and He is always with me. I will continue to do what I can to protect myself but, I know that He will do His part! As the pastor at church reminded us this week…”Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” ~ Revelation 3:20. I have opened the door and Jesus is eating with me and I with Him!